We Are All Miners

The Chile mine saga and a message for the High Holidays.

"Estamos bien en el refugio los 33." Seven simple words in Spanish scrawled on a piece of paper in red pencil, set hearts ablaze with hope last month. "The 33 of us are fine in the shelter," the words penned by one of the miners trapped deep underground in the Chilean desert, turned a tragedy of unimaginable proportions into a story of hope and tenacity, and have put the entire world on the edge of its seat as the effort to rescue them unfolds.

The story has all the makings of a blockbuster movie. (Undoubtedly, filming rights are already being eyed by the bigwigs in Hollywood, even as prayers are being said for the safe rescue of the men.) For many days the world held its breath. Thirty three men, unaccounted for after a massive collapse in a small, privately owned mine in Chile’s Atacama region. As days turned to weeks, hope began to fade fast, and rescue efforts began to wind down. Then, just when it seemed that the men had been swallowed up by the earth, a boring machine broke through into a cavern over two thousand feet below the surface. When the drill was retracted from the solid rock, that fateful note was found taped to its end.

As communication was established with the trapped men, details of their miraculous survival began to filter through. On the day of the collapse the men had worked overtime, delaying their return to the main shaft for their lunch break by a number of minutes. Had they exited the mine on time, they would have been in the main shaft as thousands of tons of rock came crashing down. Two days later, their attempts to escape the mine through a ventilation shaft were thwarted by a second collapse, and the men retreated to a designated emergency shelter to wait for help from the outside world.

Eighteen days later they were still clinging to life, having survived on two days worth of supplies, each losing between 17 and 20 pounds.

In a remarkable exercise of self-control, the men rationed their food down to a minimum, each consuming a few bites of tuna and tinned fruit each day, washed down with a few gulps of water. Eighteen days later, they were still clinging to life, having survived on two days worth of supplies, each reportedly having lost between 17 and 20 pounds.

But their ordeal has in many ways only just begun. As the world released its collective breath, elation quickly turned to worry, as drilling experts described the achingly long process necessary to bring the men to the surface. A giant boring machine has been brought to the site, and has begun to cut a rescue tunnel into the rock in a process that may take as long as four months.

In the meantime, specialists from around the world have gathered at the surface to nurse the men through their ordeal. NASA has sent a team of experts, who will draw on their experience maintaining astronauts in the hostile and isolating environment of outer space to assist in coaching and caring for the miners.

Until the men can be hoisted up through the rescue shaft, three narrow boreholes have been drilled into the rock, each no wider than a grapefruit. Referred to as their umbilical chord, these three holes will sustain the men for the duration of the long wait, with one having been designated for food, medicine and supplies, the second for oxygen and the third for communication cables to keep them connected to the outside world.

As the families of the miners gathered at the surface, the entire world has been gripped by the tale of these men. Suddenly we were all miners, imagining how we would cope in the nightmarish conditions, in the pitch black, hot and humid tunnels in the bowels of the earth.

Our Channel of Communication

There are no coincidences in our world, and the terrifying ordeal unfolding beneath the Chilean desert perhaps carries a message for us as we approach the High Holidays. In a certain sense, we are all miners. The High Holidays are a time when we stand before God to pray for the new year which lies ahead of us. On these days will be decided our fate, what type of year we will have and what we will receive from on high. Like the men trapped deep underground, we each find ourselves with a single channel of communication to a different realm, a narrow cable that is our source of hope and sustenance, the channel of prayer. And like the miners, our needs are being taken care of from above with love and devotion. Like the miners, we have nowhere else to turn.

Like the miners, our needs are being taken care of from above with love and devotion.

But the parallel runs deeper. When the medical experts on the surface began sending food to the men, they realized that after many days of deprivation, their digestive systems would not be able to cope with solid food, and they chose to initially only send fluids. No doubt the men were asking for more substantial nutrients, but the caring specialists up above knew what was ultimately good for them.

Many times we stand in prayer, asking God to send down what we perceive to be good for us. We need to have the wisdom to recognize that what we are given is really in our best interests, even if it's different than what we asked for.

This year, let us pray for the safe rescue of the 33 men trapped below the Chilean desert. And let us pray that we too will have a year of salvation and hope, sent down to us from Above, with love and care. Because in some small way, we are all miners.

Visitor Comments: 7

The earth has buried this men alive, separated from family ,friends and their normal lives. they have been taken away from all worldly worries and yet life for them continues by the power for HASHEM!

(6)
raul bitran,
September 8, 2010 7:18 PM

Shana tova le kulam, everyone have a great year, hoping to be in eretz ha kodesh next year!
grande los mineros!!! grnade chile!

(5)
Esther Sarah Evans,
September 8, 2010 6:54 AM

b"H - Min HaMaamakim - Tehillim 130

Time for them to recite with real intent "Min HaMaamakim" -- from the depths- Tehillim 130 - and for all of us to say it too - every day as often as our mouths are free of food or other words that have to be there.
Shana tova. Gut Yom tov.
Shabbat Shalom umevorakh. Gut Shabbos.

(4)
helen Schwab,
September 8, 2010 1:40 AM

the miners' channels and our prayesr: a good parallel

Thank you for a most inspiring article.
I'm copying the essence of your inciteful parallel of the miners to all of us, how we are actually dependent on a narrow channel of communication (prayer) to our Father and King for our survival "down here." I plan to put it inside my machsor (prayer book) for Rosh Hashana.
May the miners and all innocent prisoners be released in good health and may Hashem wipe off all tears and rule as King; why not this year?

(3)
Ruth Housman,
September 7, 2010 10:17 PM

life is a mine field

Thank you for an article about a story that needs telling and deep thought, and yes, prayers for these miners and their families, that they might emerge into the daylight.
I do it with words and I have said this so many times, and it is a profound truth as you articulate this in other words. Life is a mine field. It's a mine field in that we might not know when we will step on something, that shakes us deeply as in mines planted in the earth that do shatter, destroy and main.
It is a mine field in that we mine the earth for geodes, for minerals, for vast resources, for gems. And it is a mine field because mine is a word that does pertain to us all.
L'shana tova!

(2)
Yisroel Gelber,
September 7, 2010 7:48 PM

insightful

This a very insightful and well written article.
More articles from Rabbi Taback!!

(1)
Anonymous,
September 7, 2010 4:33 PM

This article speaking of the hope, care and real concern for these miners is immediately engaging. This story is truly about a miracle in our time. They (miracles) do still happen. We must recognize that each one of us could be and maybe some are, in a state of dire needs and conditions. We must pray for them as well as for ourselves as we approach Rosh HaShana. This story gives hope to each of us. What would we do if it happened to us? I know that Hashem is guiding all the good will and activity to bring these 33 men out of their underground shelter to the light of day and their families. Let us all pray for them. Let us pray for the whole world. There are stories like this all around us. Perhaps not in the news, but happening to our neighbors or friends and relatives. Let us all have compassion and forgive and give forgiveness to those who ask. Hashem forgives us and we must forgive and mean it to place ourselves in good stead for the new year 5771. To all those who have prayed for me, given me a really good price for the adornments I need to daven, prayed for my well being, I thank you and I send back to you the good will for the best that you can be and have for this new year.

I'm told that it's a mitzvah to become intoxicated on Purim. This puzzles me, because to my understanding, it is not considered a good thing to become intoxicated, period.

One of the characteristics of the at-risk youth is their use of drugs, including alcohol. In my experience, getting drunk doesn't reveal secrets. It makes people act stupid and irresponsible, doing things they would never do if they were sober. Also, I know a lot about the horrible health effects of abusing alcohol, because I work at a research center that focuses on addiction and substance abuse.

Also, I am an alcoholic, which means that if I drink, very bad things happen. I have not had a drink in 22 years, and I have no intention of starting now. Surely there must be instances where a person is excused from the obligation to drink. I don't see how Judaism could ever promote the idea of getting drunk. It just doesn't seem right.

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Putting aside for a moment all the spiritual and philosophical reasons for getting drunk on Purim, this remains an issue of common sense. Of course, teenagers should be warned of the dangers of acute alcohol ingestion. Of course, nobody should drink and drive. Of course, nobody should become so drunk to the point of negligence in performing mitzvot. And of course, a recovering alcoholic should not partake of alcohol on Purim.

Indeed, the Code of Jewish Law explicitly says that if one suspects the drinking may affect him negatively, then he should NOT drink.

Getting drunk on Purim is actually one of the most difficult mitzvot to do correctly. A person should only drink if it will lead to positive spiritual results - e.g. under the loosening affect of the alcohol, greater awareness will surface of the love for God and Torah found deep in the heart. (Perhaps if we were on a higher spiritual level, we wouldn't need to get drunk!)

Yet the Talmud still speaks of an obligation on Purim of "not knowing the difference between Blessed is Mordechai and Cursed is Haman." How then should a person who doesn't drink get the point of “not knowing”? Simple - just go to sleep! (Rama - OC 695:2)

All this applies to individuals. But the question remains - does drinking on Purim adversely affect the collective social health of the Jewish community?

The aversion to alcoholism is engrained into Jewish consciousness from a number of Biblical and Talmudic sources. There are the rebuking words of prophets - Isaiah 28:1, Hosea 3:1 with Rashi, and Amos 6:6, and the Zohar says that "The wicked stray after wine" (Midrash Ne'alam Parshat Vayera).

It is well known that the rate of alcoholism among Jews has historically been very low. Numerous medical, psychological and sociological studies have confirmed this. The connection between Judaism and sobriety is so evident, that the following conversation is reported by Lawrence Kelemen in "Permission to Receive":

When Dr. Mark Keller, editor of the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, commented that "practically all Jews do drink, and yet all the world knows that Jews hardly ever become alcoholics," his colleague, Dr. Howard Haggard, director of Yale's Laboratory of Applied Physiology, jokingly proposed converting alcoholics to the Jewish religion in order to immerse them in a culture with healthy attitudes toward drinking!

Perhaps we could suggest that it is precisely because of the use of alcohol in traditional ceremonies (Kiddush, Bris, Purim, etc.), that Jews experience such low rates of alcoholism. This ceremonial usage may actually act like an inoculation - i.e. injecting a safe amount that keeps the disease away.

Of course, as we said earlier, all this needs to be monitored with good common sense. Yet in my personal experience - having been in the company of Torah scholars who were totally drunk on Purim - they acted with extreme gentleness and joy. Amid the Jewish songs and beautiful words of Torah, every year the event is, for me, very special.

Adar 12 marks the dedication of Herod's renovations on the second Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 11 BCE. Herod was king of Judea in the first century BCE who constructed grand projects like the fortresses at Masada and Herodium, the city of Caesarea, and fortifications around the old city of Jerusalem. The most ambitious of Herod's projects was the re-building of the Temple, which was in disrepair after standing over 300 years. Herod's renovations included a huge man-made platform that remains today the largest man-made platform in the world. It took 10,000 men 10 years just to build the retaining walls around the Temple Mount; the Western Wall that we know today is part of that retaining wall. The Temple itself was a phenomenal site, covered in gold and marble. As the Talmud says, "He who has not seen Herod's building, has never in his life seen a truly grand building."

Some people gauge the value of themselves by what they own. But in reality, the entire concept of ownership of possessions is based on an illusion. When you obtain a material object, it does not become part of you. Ownership is merely your right to use specific objects whenever you wish.

How unfortunate is the person who has an ambition to cleave to something impossible to cleave to! Such a person will not obtain what he desires and will experience suffering.

Fortunate is the person whose ambition it is to acquire personal growth that is independent of external factors. Such a person will lead a happy and rewarding life.

With exercising patience you could have saved yourself 400 zuzim (Berachos 20a).

This Talmudic proverb arose from a case where someone was fined 400 zuzim because he acted in undue haste and insulted some one.

I was once pulling into a parking lot. Since I was a bit late for an important appointment, I was terribly annoyed that the lead car in the procession was creeping at a snail's pace. The driver immediately in front of me was showing his impatience by sounding his horn. In my aggravation, I wanted to join him, but I saw no real purpose in adding to the cacophony.

When the lead driver finally pulled into a parking space, I saw a wheelchair symbol on his rear license plate. He was handicapped and was obviously in need of the nearest parking space. I felt bad that I had harbored such hostile feelings about him, but was gratified that I had not sounded my horn, because then I would really have felt guilty for my lack of consideration.

This incident has helped me to delay my reactions to other frustrating situations until I have more time to evaluate all the circumstances. My motives do not stem from lofty principles, but from my desire to avoid having to feel guilt and remorse for having been foolish or inconsiderate.

Today I shall...

try to withhold impulsive reaction, bearing in mind that a hasty act performed without full knowledge of all the circumstances may cause me much distress.

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